


going to hold you forever

by displayheartcode



Series: Warmth of the Sun [51]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Male Ginny Weasley, Post-War, Pre-Epilogue, Tenderness, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27945959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/displayheartcode/pseuds/displayheartcode
Summary: prompt - After everything we’ve been through, you still don’t think that I love you?
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Series: Warmth of the Sun [51]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/115171
Comments: 12
Kudos: 50





	going to hold you forever

**Author's Note:**

> wow. another title from hadestown. i know everyone is shocked.

Forcing her eyes open, Halley checked over her cards. Gideon sat across from her on the floor. The early morning sunlight cast his face in long shadows.

“Sleepy?” he asked.

“Hardly.”

This was becoming a common occurrence in the early hours of the summer. Her nightmares. His reassurance. A game of Exploding Snap to pass the time until her body forced her to sleep in an awkward position on his bedroom floor.

Because if Halley closed her eyes, she would imagine the cold water rising above her head, being chased in a forest by Death Eaters. She shivered at the memory of the jagged shadows in the Forbidden Forest. _ You’ve faced death so many times, _ a tiny voice in the back of her mind murmured.  _ Of course, it was going to catch up with you.  _ She had lived a year in constant danger, and this was the result.

And despite it all, Gideon was still here.

Halley readjusted her glasses. She threw a card down. The edges of it burned red and embers sparked up in the air. “Ha.”

He tossed his cards. “How are you suddenly winning? What are we even betting on?”

Halley shrugged. The pool between them was made of ridiculous claims. A chance to break out of Gringotts again, a personal invitation to Nearly-Headless Nick’s Death Day Party, a baby Blast-Ended Skrewt, each claim more ridiculous than the last. Something to make up for the fact all of Halley’s possessions could fit inside her school trunk.

Gideon muttered something under his breath and began to reshuffle the deck.

“How about truths?” She rolled a wayward ember between her fingers, making it jump before it burned out, just like how Rory had taught her back at Hogwarts whenever they slacked off from homework. “I ask you a question, and you answer truthfully.”

The cards slipped between his hands. He set the remaining deck down. “Ask me anything.”

An early morning breeze rustled the bedroom curtains. She felt half-awake here, with the yellow walls covered in Quidditch posters, the scent of the flowers that grew beneath the window.  _ He kissed me here _ , she remembered. Almost unconsciously, her eyes went to the spot by the dresser, imagining the phantom touch of his hands on her again. Her birthday felt so long ago, decades rather than a year.

“Why me?” Halley asked. 

It was so quiet. She heard his soft inhale, like he was physically preparing himself. Then the creak of a floorboard and he sat right next to her. She pressed her side against his, feeling the warmth of his body through their clothes.

“Do you remember what happened after the Chamber?” Gideon looked at her, his eyes dark and wide. “You played Exploding Snap with me. I was so alone, but you made me feel human again. You reminded me how to be brave.”

It was a simple memory: the crackle of the fire in the hearth, Gideon’s surprised laughter after he won.

“That’s all it took?”

“It’s where it started, at least for me.” His voice was low, setting goosebumps over Halley’s skin. All of his easy-going charm replaced by a raw vulnerability. “After everything we’ve been through, you still don’t think that I love you?” He pushed her hair back and kissed her temple. “It’s the same reason why I kissed you on your birthday.” His lips trailed her jaw, cautious, hopeful. “It’s why I wait with you every morning.  _ Halley…”  _

She imagined sparks at every place he touched. She leaned into his embrace. “I never knew you were such a romantic.”

“Don’t tell my sisters,” Gideon said. “They only know so much about the poetry I’ve written about you.”

“ _ Mhm _ . You might have to recite some for me.” She yawned into his broad shoulder, the tension leaving her body. “Can I—just for tonight—or this morning?”

They made it to his narrow bed. Their legs tangled together under the covers as they traded lazy kisses, knowing they had enough time for once in their lives.

“Hey,” Halley whispered, feeling her eyes close. “I love you, too.”


End file.
